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grid-work, and distances.

Hi, i am going to teach my horse to jump tomorrow! ALL of her schooling has been done by myself (under instruction) over the last 2 years when i got her and this is all we have done, no jumping and i feel that her canter is FINALLY balanced enough to learn to jump I can jump myself but have only ever jumped a handful of horses, one of which was very experienced and taught me a lot. I dont have a jumping instructor but i do have a mum and dad who will help me all they can with setting up poles and filming me so i can look back on it tomorrow night and see how i can improve.
So my horse is the one in my signature, shes a cob and i dont think they are know for setting the world alight showjumping lol! But i would like to be able to enter riding club horse classes and id like her to learn to jump correctly even if the jumps are small.
My questions are.. How far apart should my canter poles be? how far from the jump should a placing pole be, what sort of height and what type of fences should i start off with?
My horse doesnt have a big stride, is 15.3hands and iv always find her struggle to stretch over canter poles so what distance would you reccomend?
We have done lots of trotting pole work and setting poles out to trot over on a serpentine and stuff and she doesnt have issues with them being scary so that shouldn't be a problem.

So iv rambled on with myself a lot lol so im just basically looking for some advice if anybody can help?

Re: grid-work, and distances.

umm, i really honestly think you should book a lesson, probably just a 1/2 hour one (as any more than that, jumping for the first time, will prob be too tiring and too much) with a good local jumping instructor. for her first time it is really important that she has a good positive experience, and a good pair of eyes on the ground will make a phenomenal difference, especially if you haven't done lots of jumping, or not for a while.
i'm not going to even try to give any more advice than that, sorry!

"...and I whispered to the horse: trust no man in whose eye you don't see yourself reflected as an equal." - Don Vincenzo Giobbe (circa 1700)
"Remember, the horse has no bad intentions, he only reacts." Dr Gerd Heuschmann
"Only ignorance! Only ignorance! Don't you know it is the worst thing in the world, next to wickedness?" -- from Black Beauty, Anna Sewell

Re: grid-work, and distances.

I spend every spare penny on my showing lessons as thats what i do really and im only teaching her to jump for a little fun and so we can do the odd riding club horse class. I was jumping a horse a couple of month ago until he was sold and he was great and his owner said he was taught by hunting a couple of times.
Also i dont think i was very clear, even tho my horse doesnt jump doesnt mean i havent since i got her lol. Im just wandering if anybody has any good grid exercises so she will be happy to pop over a small jump in riding club horse classes. ( ranging from 1 foot 9 to about 2 foot 9 depending on the show )

Re: grid-work, and distances.

For her being a bit short striding, I would try poles at just over 3yrds apart set 3 or 4 up, and just walk, then trot, then canter over them, letting the poles do the work keeping the stride regular, but making sure, especially in the canter you have a "together" canter before getting to the poles.

Then set up the last pole as a little X, and come down the line in canter exactly as you did without a jump. Then raise it to a little upright, and then a little cross where the second pole was, so it's pole, x, pole, upright

For a placing pole, again I would put it just over 3yrds away, or slightly closer if from trot and the fence is teeny.

I always use a 3.5yrd distance between poles for grids for my 15.3hh, but she is long striding and used to BSJA distances of 4yrds a stride

Re: grid-work, and distances.

No worries If you were wanting to compete SJing, I would slowly increase the distance inbetween the poles as she gets more confident, so she can get accustomed to jumping on a "true" distance of 4 yards a stride, or 8 yards for a one stride double. However, because it's just fun and the fences I presume will be little, shorter distances will make it easy for her